Reply To: Using PV systems to heat hot water

[Eion Scott]

Great to read your post Fred, have been talking with Vector about it and they appear to be telling me they won’t allow people to go off ripple control to allow setting it up for daytime heating. This would give more options for people who don’t want to sell excess home generation to the grid. In my case, Mercury only offers 3.5c per kWh, which makes an investment in PV marginal.

So I’m looking at the VectorSolar programme which has the big benefit of being able to store up to 4 kWh overnight in a lithium battery/inverter cabinet which can also be islanded (i.e. used in the event of a grid outage). I’ve used the PVCalc tool that Phil pointed to (great tip Phil) and it appears to be an excellent investment, even with my east/west roof (Vector claim it should operate at about 88% of a northern elevation, and the 3kWp panels will produce 10.7 kWh a day on average). (I can’t seem to attach the details to this, but will see if I can put it under resources). Yes you don’t get to keep the system at the end of the 12.5 year contract but there is no decommission fee (that applies to the 6 year contract).
Yes you don’t get to keep the system at the end of the 12.5 year contract but there is no decommission fee (that applies to the 6 year contract). I’ve done a similar calc on the return if I bought the equipment myself (assuming I could buy it for $10,500, which is the total cost of the lease ($70 a month) over 12.5 years – probably unlikely) and I think the lease arrangement is better, despite the lower return in the long run, as it’s going to save a lot of design uncertainty, will generate profits from day one, and we don’t need to worry if the house is sold or the panels or system need maintenance/upgrading/replacement.
 

If you want to know more about the Vector Solar pilot http://vector.co.nz/solar/service-offering-and-pricing

 

 

 

Add New Note to this Reply